Following numerous researches and a variety of potent effects which have been realized due to the use of cannabis and cannabis related drugs, there are a wide variety of pharmaceuticals that could be potentially be replaced by cannabis. Though a lot of research has been conducted and several studies are still underway, here are some of the likely pharmaceuticals we could see giving way to cannabis in the near future:

Cannabis for opioids

There are states where medicinal use of cannabis has been legalized for over two decades now, and these states have seen the rates of the usage of opioids significantly drop and so are the deaths related to the prescription of these drugs.

According to a Working Paper published in 2015, a research conducted by RAND Corporation concluded that across the 17 states where the use of medicinal cannabis was legalized, there was a drop in the deaths related to opioids overdose by between 16 – 31% following the legalization of the cannabis laws.

Another survey conducted in 2016 assessed 244 patients suffering from chronic pains and who were on medicinal cannabis. Through this survey, it was discovered that the use of opioids declined by 64% and the quality of life score for the participants increased by an average of 45%.

These and many other findings make a strong case to suggest that it is just a matter of time before medicinal cannabis completely replace opioids in the management of chronic pain.

Cannabis for antiepileptic drugs

There are certain severe forms of epilepsy that still doesn’t have concrete medications for controlling seizures. For instance, seizures associated with types like Dravet Syndrome was a big problem until it was discovered that CBD could be used to manage such seizures. As a matter of fact, Epidiolex by GW Pharmaceuticals is now being recognized as an orphan drug in the United States, since it can treat a condition which no other legally recognized drug can treat.

However, quite a number of forms of epilepsy exist and these could be treated using the traditional anticonvulsant medication and most of them come with varied side effects which can sometimes be very detrimental. Several states in the United States now consider epilepsy as an approved condition which can be treated with cannabis based medications. It has also been observed by very many epilepsy patients that treatment using CBD based drugs is more effective and have less debilitating side effects.

Other pharmaceuticals that can be replaced by cannabis

Other than the above, cannabis as shown promising results as a potential replacement for other pharmaceuticals such as:

Antipsychotics – these could be potentially be replaced, especially those based on CBD, simply because CBD is very rich in antipsychotic properties.

Anti-Insomnia – these are also potential candidates since CBD and THC have been discovered to note only encourage sleep, but also increase the duration and quality of sleep.

ADHD – ADHD drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin are not suitable for all types of ADHD patients and a good number of such patients are now opting to replace their meds with cannabis based prescriptions.